Unfold Your Own Myth
Who comes to a spring thirsty
and sees the moon reflected in it?
Who, like Jacob, blind with grief and age,
smells the shirt of his son and can see again?
Who lets a bucket down
and brings up a flowing prophet?
Or like Moses goes for fire
and finds what burns inside the sunrise?
Jesus slips into a house to escape enemies,
and opens a door to the other world.
Solomon cuts open a fish,
and there's a gold ring.
Omar storms in to kill the prophet
and leaves with blessings.
Chase a deer and end up everywhere!
An oyster opens his mouth to swallow one drop.
Now there's a pearl.
A vagrant wanders empty ruins
Suddenly he's wealthy.
But don't be satisfied with stories,
how things have gone with others.
Unfold your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you. . . .
Start walking toward Shams.
Your legs will get heavy
And tired.
Then comes a moment
Of feeling the wings you’ve grown,
Lifting.
From The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
_______________________________________________________
Earth's crammed with heaven
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries
From Aurora Leigh, Bk. VII, l. 812-826, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
_______________________________________________________
Everything Is Best
When Banzan was walking through a market, he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.
“Give me the best piece of meat you have,” said the customer.
“Everything in my shop is the best,” he replied the butcher. “You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best.”
At these words Banzan became enlightened.
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
_______________________________________________________
Don't Change
I was neurotic for years.
I was anxious and depressed and selfish.
Everyone kept telling me to change.
I resented them,
and I agreed with them,
and I wanted to change,
but simply couldn’t,
no matter how hard I tried.
What hurt the most was that,
like the others,
my best friend kept insisting that I change.
So I felt powerless and trapped.
Then, one day, he said to me, “Don’t change.
I love you just as you are.”
Those words were music to my ears:
“Don’t change. Don’t change. Don’t change…
I love you as you are.”
I relaxed.
I came alive.
And suddenly I changed!
Now I know that I couldn’t really change
until I found someone
who would love me
whether I changed or not.
The Song of the Bird by Anthony De Mello
Who comes to a spring thirsty
and sees the moon reflected in it?
Who, like Jacob, blind with grief and age,
smells the shirt of his son and can see again?
Who lets a bucket down
and brings up a flowing prophet?
Or like Moses goes for fire
and finds what burns inside the sunrise?
Jesus slips into a house to escape enemies,
and opens a door to the other world.
Solomon cuts open a fish,
and there's a gold ring.
Omar storms in to kill the prophet
and leaves with blessings.
Chase a deer and end up everywhere!
An oyster opens his mouth to swallow one drop.
Now there's a pearl.
A vagrant wanders empty ruins
Suddenly he's wealthy.
But don't be satisfied with stories,
how things have gone with others.
Unfold your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
We have opened you. . . .
Start walking toward Shams.
Your legs will get heavy
And tired.
Then comes a moment
Of feeling the wings you’ve grown,
Lifting.
From The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
_______________________________________________________
Earth's crammed with heaven
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries
From Aurora Leigh, Bk. VII, l. 812-826, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
_______________________________________________________
Everything Is Best
When Banzan was walking through a market, he overheard a conversation between a butcher and his customer.
“Give me the best piece of meat you have,” said the customer.
“Everything in my shop is the best,” he replied the butcher. “You cannot find here any piece of meat that is not the best.”
At these words Banzan became enlightened.
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
_______________________________________________________
Don't Change
I was neurotic for years.
I was anxious and depressed and selfish.
Everyone kept telling me to change.
I resented them,
and I agreed with them,
and I wanted to change,
but simply couldn’t,
no matter how hard I tried.
What hurt the most was that,
like the others,
my best friend kept insisting that I change.
So I felt powerless and trapped.
Then, one day, he said to me, “Don’t change.
I love you just as you are.”
Those words were music to my ears:
“Don’t change. Don’t change. Don’t change…
I love you as you are.”
I relaxed.
I came alive.
And suddenly I changed!
Now I know that I couldn’t really change
until I found someone
who would love me
whether I changed or not.
The Song of the Bird by Anthony De Mello
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